Color Theory 18 - Yellow

In the last episode of Color and Meaning we explored the color Red.  I had a poll at the end of that post asking about how you use red in your fiber art or quilting. Here are the results:

For this little series I am focusing on the primaries in the Munsell color system: red, yellow, green ,blue and purple. Next up is

Yellow

"There are painters who transform the sun to a
yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transfer a yellow spot into the sun."--Pablo Picasso

I think the more yellows, the more lights, the better. It alerts everybody. I mean, I guess I'm always a little bit afraid when the yellow comes out, we all get out of it, that someone won't notice it, pile into the back of you. 
Danica Patrick 

I really just want to be warm yellow light that pours over everyone I love. 
Conor Oberst 

Yellow is the most luminous and visible of all of the colors. Our eye processes yellow first and it’s the reason that school buses and taxicabs are yellow (or, more accurately, yellow with a little orange). Pure yellow has a very high reflective value.

When you look at a collection of yellow fabrics you will not notice a lot of “varieties” of yellow as there are with red and blue. When yellow is mixed with even the tiniest bit of blue you get green. Mix in a little red and you have orange.

Yellow stimulates mental processes and activates memory.

Yellow, as with all colors, has positive and negative connotations.

Positive meanings

Happiness

Warmth

Energy

Cheer

Joy

Intellect

 

 

Negative meanings

Caution

Cowardice

Sickness

Greed

 

In American football an yellow flag indicates a penalty

A yellow flag indicates quarantine

In China, adult movies are “yellow movies”

In Russia the “yellow house” is the crazy house

In the Middle Ages Jews were forced to wear yellow patches as a form of identification and later generations were forced to wear yellow arm bands in the Nazi concentration camps.

 

Yellow phrases:

Yellowbellied – cowardly

Yellow fever – a disease with jaundice as a symptom

Yellow journalism – printing news stories with the sole objective of selling more newspapers

Yellow ribbon – remembrance

Mellow yellow – relaxed

Yellow streak down your back – cowardly

In quilting, yellow has been very popular to use with gray, especially in modern quilts. But it seems to me that most people avoid using much gray. Several years ago there was a lot of mention of adding a “zinger” to your quilt. Quilts started appearing with small amounts of yellow or chartreuse green added to great effect. Too much yellow can be jarring but sometimes that’s the effect that you want.

 How do you use yellow? You can check all that apply.

 

How do you use yellow in your quilts?
	Every quilt I make has some yellow in it.
	Yellow scares me and less than 5% of my stash is yellow
	I prefer my yellow more on the gold spectrum, instead of bright yellow
	I use yellow only when I know that the quilt recipient likes it
	I have made a predominately yellow quilt
	I will never make a yellow quilt
	I don't use bright yellow but I do use lots of gold and dull yellows in my quilts
pollcode.com free polls

Comments

[elle]

My favourite colour! I am repainting and there will be LOTS of yellow in the house and lots of quilts to reflect that luv!

[Mary Ann Harpe]

WAY back when AOL had and active quilting group and I was in the thick of it, I hosted what turned out being 3 QHC (quilter's hated color) block exchanges, i.e yellow. I have a lovely quilt that I designed the layout for.

[Cindy Is Crafty]

Yellow is my fav color. I have some accent items I wear with it, but I don't put a lot on it or I might look like Big Bird!

[Marjorie Busby]

Love yellow and use it a lot. In one of my favorite quilts, the yellow fabric was too bright for the amount I wanted to use so I just used the wrong side of the fabric throughout the quilt, and it was just perfect.

[patty]

I would never wear yellow, but I am not afraid to use it in a quilt. I have made many baby zig zag quilts with all yellow zig zags (remember the one I made for Max Armstrong?) and I made a wall piece in celebration of the TDF using yellow TDF t-shirts I bought off of e-bay. I use yellow when it is appropriate for a quilt and have never been afraid to add it if it works.

[Gene Black]

I picked "Every quilt I make has yellow in it" - that is not entirely true, but I do like yellows of all shades and hues in quilts. I have even used an acid yellow (my least favorite yellow) in a quilt.